North Carolina Club Wins WCLA Division II Title

North Carolina Club's Sarah
McCullough scored the game-winning goal with 1:53 remaining to lift
the Tar Heels to a 10-9 victory over James Madison Club in the WCLA
Division II championship game Saturday. (Sam
Owens)

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Top-seeded North
Carolina Club capped an undefeated season by rallying for a 10-9
victory over No. 2 seed James Madison Club to win the 2014 US
Lacrosse Women's Collegiate Lacrosse Associates (WCLA) Division II
National Championship at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex Stadium on
Saturday. The Tar Heels scored the game's final three goals to
secure their second national title in three years.

Trailing 9-7, UNC player-coach Mary Morgan Bitler, named the
tournament's most outstanding attacker, recorded her third and
fourth goals of the game to pull the Tar Heels even with 4:56 to
play. After the teams traded turnovers, junior co-captain Sarah
McCullough decided to call her own number on an isolation play and
tallied the game-winner with 1:53 remaining.

James Madison, the defending national champion, had one more
possession to tie the score in the final minute, but mishandled a
pass in the offensive zone.

"I called that play to relieve some pressure off Mary,"
McCullough said. "JMU was doubling on the iso pretty quickly. I was
surprised that the double didn't come, so I shot."

It was a case of déjà vu for both teams. McCullogh
had also tallied the game-winner in overtime when UNC defeated JMU
in the Mid Atlantic Women's Lacrosse League final played on April
13. UNC won that contest 15-14 in overtime.

"This is a great feeling because our goal has been to win the
nationals since we started on September 1," Bitler said. "We have
worked hard to not only get to the final, but to win it so that we
can have this feeling."

Neither team led by more than two goals in the closely contested
game which featured seven ties and four lead changes. That was not
unexpected.

"I told our team that today's game would probably be like
playing a thousand mini-games with lots of momentum changes," said
Bitler, who finished with a game-high four goals.

Bitler tallied three goals on free position shots. Both teams
finished with four free position goals in total. Goalie Madeleine
Loeb finished with eight saves for the Tar Heels and was named the
tournament's most outstanding goalie.

Junior midfielder Catherine Flood paced James Madison with two
goals and a game-high four assists. Flood, who also recorded four
goals in yesterday's semifinal victory, was named the tournament's
most outstanding midfielder. Teammate Kelsey Weathers was named the
tournament's outstanding defender.

Despite the loss, James Madison established a new record for
most goals scored in a tournament, with 73 goals in four games.